The Obama administration will stick with the election-year tradition of both Democratic and Republican White Houses in offering presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney classified intelligence briefings only after he formally secures his party's nomination at the convention this summer.

"It's a long-standing practice for presidential candidates and select advisers to be provided intelligence briefings following the party's nominating convention," Shawn Turner, the spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told Security Clearance. "During the last presidential campaign, all the candidates began receiving briefings in September following the conventions."

Turner stressed that the Obama administration is keeping to a tradition in place since the 1950s.

"The White House typically initiates contact with the campaign during the summer prior to the convention," he said. "This starts a lengthy process by the director of national intelligence which involves obtaining security clearances, and establishing logistical procedures and determining briefing protocols."

So far, Turner said, the Romney campaign has not asked for any briefings.

The intelligence community will approach the campaign in the coming weeks to begin working on interim security clearances for two staffers to be selected by the campaign, a U.S. intelligence official told CNN. Then the candidate and the staffers will be given briefings after the convention. Candidates are automatically granted access to the briefings without a clearance. The official would talk to CNN only if no name was used due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

During the summertime discussions to set up the procedures for getting clearances and setting up briefings, the administration will discuss with the Romney staff the types of briefings and information they will receive. These briefings typically include the latest national security and intelligence information for the candidate on a variety of current matters.

The the briefings are conducted, the official said, to inform the candidate, but also to alert the candidate about sensitive matters on which it could be potentially harmful to national security for the candidate to inadvertently or unknowingly make statements.

The official noted all the procedures for briefing the Romney campaign closely mirror what previous Republican and Democratic administrations have done in prior election years. In 2008, the Bush White House reached out to the Obama and McCain campaigns in July to begin the security clearance process and discuss procedures and topics for the briefings.

In the previous election cycles, the candidates were on key congressional committees that gave them access to a lot of critical information already. As a candidate, Barack Obama was on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. His Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, was on the Armed Services Committee. In 2004, Sen. John Kerry was on the Foreign Affairs committee as well. But Romney is not in government and would not have access to such information.

The administration began preparing to reach out to the Romney campaign this week, given Romney's presumptive nominee status.

The Romney campaign did not respond to a CNN Security Clearance request for comment.

This headline is inaccurate. Romney hasn't yet clinched the nomination as reported by the mainstream media. The article even acknowledges this fact by pointing out the sharing wouldn't start until after the convention when the nominee is officially determined. WOULD MEDIA FOLK PLEASE REPORT FACTS, rather than continually mislead the public?!

– His Father: George W. Romney, former
Governor of the State of Michigan

-He was Raised in: Bloomfield Hills , Michigan

-He is Married to: Ann Romney since 1969; they have
five children
-Education: B.A. from Brigham Young
University , J.D. and M.B.A. from Harvard University
-Religion: Mormon – The Church of Jesus
Christ of the Latter-Day Saints

-Working Background:

-After high school, he spent 30 months in France as a Mormon
missionary.
-After going to both Harvard Business School and Harvard Law
School simultaneously, he passed the Michigan bar, but never worked as
an attorney.
-In 1984, he co-founded Bain Capital a private equity
investment firm, one of the largest such firms in the United States .

-In 1994, he ran for Senator of Massachusetts and lost to Ted Kennedy.

-He was President and C.E.O. of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
And made them profitable once again.

-In 2002, he was elected Governor of the State of
Massachusetts where he eliminated a 1.5 billion deficit.

-Some Interesting Fact about Romney:

-Bain Capital, starting with one small office supply store in
Massachusetts , turned it into Staples; now over 2,000 stores
employing 90,000 people.

-Bain Capital also worked to perform the same kinds of
business miracles again and again, with companies like Domino's,
Sealy, Brookstone, Weather Channel, Burger King, Warner Music Group,
Dollarama, Home Depot Supply, and many others.

All the ad hominem name calling is ridiculous. Obama's stupid, Romney's an idiot....please. Both are ivy league educated, Obama a successful politician (not that I agree with him on much of anything), Romney a successful politician and business man. Both are considerably more intelligent than 99% of folks reading CNN.com, so disagree on issues and engage in civilized discourse. How about a comment on the article that it's great we live in a country where the party in power understands that no matter who wins an election, the security of the country itself is more important than this ridiculous bickering. Grow the f up people

Granted – Obama is stupid – but Romney is veryintelligent and will take Obama down in November. He is the only one who can get this wonderful country back on track to concentrating on the American People and the economy and NOT dictate the arrogant whims Obama has portrayed.

Romney has Trump's endorsement. How lucky can one man get? Now Romney can join in the hunt with The Donald's investigators leaving no stone unturned in Hawaii looking for Obama's birth certificate.

June 4, 2012 at 1:39 am |

kathy

victoria...you're a hater...pure and simple....and probably a racist. PRESIDENT Obama is highly intelligent man with a Harvard degree. Calling anyone (GOP or DEM) a "stupid" person with a education that you surely don't posses just shows how stupid you are. Shut it b....

June 4, 2012 at 10:27 am |

SPQR

Pratt practiced plural marriage and had twelve wives, thirty children, and 266 grandchildren. In 2011, Pratt's living descendants were estimated at between thirty and fifty thousand.[28] His first wife, Thankful Halsey Pratt, died following childbirth in March 1837. Pratt married his second wife, a widow, Mary Ann Frost Sterns, within two months of his first wife's death, perhaps causing Joseph Smith to condemn "marrying in five or six weeks, or even in two or three months, after the death of their companion."[29] Pratt persuaded Mary Ann to share his bed during his imprisonment in a Richmond, Missouri, jail; but after Pratt began practicing polygamy they became estranged, and Mary Ann finally divorced him in 1853.[30] According to authors Terryl L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow, Pratt was often “dour and humorless,” with an “antisocial bent," and he could be remarkably insensitive in his relationships with his wives.[31]

One of Pratt's great-great-grandsons is Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and candidate for the 2008 and 2012 Republican presidential nomination.[32] One of his great-great-great-grandsons is Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor and Ambassador to China, and a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.[33] Pratt's grandson, William King Driggs, was the father of the King Sisters.

Pat, I want to know why you are not at the Bilderberg Meeting or even reporting on it? Why as a Christian, are you not standing up to this evil in this world with Prayers & Leadership, shining Gods light on their Darkness being executed in secret right now as the Global Agenda?

You should be rallying people peacefully to be there with the protesters and leading them in prayers for this world and Country, and binding up the Principalities and Powers of Darkness as they discuss our demise right in your own backyard. Why is there not even a whisper of this event coming from CNN and who do you really stand up for, the Globalists or God? Shame on you!

Seriously? Romney's "too dumb" to know what to do with the information? Ugh. You're the reason we need to implement more rigorous requirements for suffrage rights. Childlike behavior should result in having access only to rights possessed by children.

Romney is, AGAINST women, students, the poor, working class. Was AGAINST the Auto-makers bailout, killing Bin Laden.
Willard has been on the wrong side of everything! But he wants to cut taxes for the 1%. That's his total economic plan. I guess we understand that he had to outspend his republican opponents 10-1 to get the nomination. As for his being Gov. of Mass. his putting people to work didn't work there either. 47 out of 50 in the country. And the other 3 were hit by a hurricane. Willard has NEVER gotten people to work.

And all anyone has to do to get some of that scholorship money is to convert to Mormonism.

June 3, 2012 at 3:06 am |

David in FL

Steven, there are no longer any words for ignorance that seem to fit you.. but given your vial behavior, I think I'll just sit back and let those with above and IQ of 10 observe you for the hate mongerer you are.

In some Haryana villages in India, the young girls are routinely threatened, abused and killed all under Khap (tribe/clan) verdicts. It is acceptable for the families to feed pesticide pills to the teenage girls and then dispose off their bodies by burning them without any police records.

First, think about what you said. Do you honestly think an organization, terrorist or national military, could pull off the planning and logistics in 9 months to do what Al Qeda did on 9/11?

Second, and more importantly, the Clinton administration drastically cut assets and spending for the military and intelligence organizations which led to lapses in data and intelligence that may have helped avert 9/11.

I'm a vet too and you are certainly off-base. The Clinton administration cut assets and spending for the military and intelligence organizations by a little over 1.3%. I wouldn't call that very drastic, but to make a foolish point I guess some people might.

June 3, 2012 at 11:14 am |

Merrill

Clinton killed military spending. I remember in my Dad's unit at the time they did not have enough money to go to the range and qualify with their weapons. And when they did have ammo they stopped you from shooting once you got the minimum score to conserve what they had. Not really that big of a deal?

June 4, 2012 at 1:11 am |

nolimits3333

Does anyone really want Romney answering the phone in the White House at 3 am???

Who do you think has been answering it Sue? DUH!!!
WOW We haven't been attacked yet either....can you say Bush in office, 3,000 KILLED - BUSH WAS NOT DOING HIS JOB TO ANSWER THE PHONE ON SEPT 11TH.....

SEPTEMBER 11, 2011.....BROUGHT TO YOU BY: .REPUBLICANS ANSWERING THE PHONE. AT 2 A.M.

June 2, 2012 at 5:48 pm |

amjo

That's because you're atupid

June 2, 2012 at 10:39 pm |

antifascist1

I have no problem with Rommey answering the phone at 3 am, as long as he is a good secretary.

You the religous bigot.. yeah you.. captain clueless, I defend your right to be as ignorant as you want to be, but hate speech is wrong.

June 3, 2012 at 9:22 pm |

krm1007

India must cease financing the terrorists and address the Kashmir genocide issue (among others such as Tamils, Maoists etc.) in order for peace to prevail in south asia. Mumbai and Chennai are the illegal cricket gambling capitals of the world. Cash Flows from these operations are being siphoned off by the Indian government to finance terrorists globally, particularly in the region. This off the book financing is also being used, in the case of sales of illegal booze, to finance terrorism. This way the indians are able to dodge the american financial radar.The american congressional politicians have been alerted to the double game Indians are playing.

The bottom line is that the only way to have peace in Afghanistan and lessen regional tension is split India into pieces. It has become too big to govern or create any value for western countries or even for its own population. We have invested a lot of resources in India over the past two decades and given a lot of aid to prop it up. There has been no investment on this return. Instead India has squandered all the resources in building nuclear weapons while poverty remains rampant in the country. We need to revisit our relationship with India. American taxpayers will not tolerate this anymore. We need to take care of our own populace going forward. We cannot be exporting jobs to India or giving it financial or technical handouts.
The thesis is that smaller independent states will generate tremendous economic demand for western nations, be democratically more efficient and easy to manage, Christian friendly, religion tolerant, a great source of demand for military equipment from the west, culturally homogenous and will unleash opportunities for the people that will eradicate poverty. Moreover, the currently subjugated and enslaved minorities will have a place they can call home, have their skin in the game and work harder and with a passion to keep that neighborhood clean from extremists.
Of course, we can carve out a hindu nation along the a portion of the western coast where they can continue to practice their medieval culture and hopefully come into the folds of the modern world within the next century.
Otherwise, I am afraid, extremism will continue to fester in that region and continue to become a threat for the western nations. We have been fighting a war for the past ten years with no end. Our soldiers have shed blood to no end. Their families are suffering. Has even one Indian soldier sacrificed his life in helping the Americans, NATO and western countries in fighting this war? The answer is a resolute NO. Folks, just think about it, 1.2 million Indian Army soldiers are sitting in trenches doing what???? Sure the heck beats me. Americans are now questioning the US Congress as to what they are doing to correct this unsustainable relationship with India. The India caucus is being monitored by citizen groups. If they don't respond to the needs of the American people political contributions to them will be severely impacted.
So the only way to peace in Afghanistan is dismantling the terrorist network and financing emanating from India, cutting it up into smaller nations along the lines of communist USSR and let smaller and more gentle and economically dynamic states emerge, stopping the genocide in Kashmir of muslim children/women, subjugation of minorities, prosecution of Christians and Muslims. Furthermore the ridiculously large and ineffective Indian army needs to be dismantled and put to use in assisting the poverty stricken masses and not sitting in trenches hiding from Talibans.

I agree and believe in the concept that the sum of parts is greater than the whole. No different than the discussion that J&J as a company would be more valuable broken up in three pieces. Lets get it done CIA.

tensalconsulting hit nail on the head. Isn't anybody willing to run as the third Independent party candidate of the Electoral College United States. After all common people have no weight in the Electoral College.

This sounds like a horrible practice.
I understand the benefits, but what's preventing some billionaire from buying his way in–like Perot did–in order to gain access to classified information they could turn around and share with the world?

If you're so jealous of the "1%" as you call them and their "luxuries"', why don't you get off your ass and invent something or start a business like the 1%ers did to earn their way ynto that 'category'?

Hey moron.
We are not jelous.
They have used thier money to fix all of the rules and laws,
so they stay rich and we stay poor.
With a few exceptions most of the "rich" either inherited it, or where put
into a position to obtain it.
Few actually ever work for it and "earn" it.
But keep on voting for them, idiot.

youre right ipad you remember not a steeve job invention i know because i am the one who ask for it and receive nothing in return 0 money did you look at there computer before that come on it was so big and huge like old t.v. they have peoples who take very good idea from peoples just like you and me and make enormous money on are backs they don't care about you and they are cheap in every everyway possible i could go on and on on everything that i have done it's a big money mafia and you can't prove anything against those thug because i don't go on t.v. no money for that and if you are poor so much the better they will do anything to make you lose youre job or send people to your work place buy peoples and says thing about you that is just not truth

June 2, 2012 at 2:03 pm |

Trigger

You poor poor soul. Someone is always keeping you down. Go get it and quit whining. The one who keeps you down is....YOU!

June 4, 2012 at 5:27 pm |

Brad

First Freep – learn to spell. Second the only one holding you back is you. Anyone can become successful in this great nation of ours – even you!

at least he ran somthing other than his mouth before he gets his white house job and his company had 80% success as oposed to just 1 for obama (GM) the rest of obamas investments in green energy were failures

How do you count GM an Obama success when they still owe billions of stimulus money? Also need to remember all the dealerships they closed, stock stolen, and people laid off to keep company afloat. Makes Bain Capital look pretty tame

June 2, 2012 at 9:05 am |

dave

so the GM bankruptcy is the president's fault? God, if others think like you there really is no reasoning to how people vote. I suppose if another president was in office you'd have to rethink whose fault it was to fit your political rambling agenda.

June 3, 2012 at 12:59 pm |

Henry

It's good that they get him up to speed before he's elected. It'll make an easier transition when he sends Obama back to Chicago.

Don't worry about it folks, the info Romney will get will be second hand news anyway. All the good stuff will have been leaked anyway. (See CNN's report by Adam Levine entitled, "Loose lips and the Obama national security ship") Talk about transparency! The white house is turning into a glass house.

It seems Obama's attempts to be on the up and up are only a way to say (hypothetically, I don't want anyone to accuse me of misquoting the Commander in Chief (of so-called sensitive information), "What? It's okay, I promise everything I do is constitutional. Why would I tell you otherwise. I have everything under control."

The guy is a loose cannon. Aiming unfortunately at the Constitution and the White House.

I guess you can't have it both ways. On one hand you have your take on the situation and on the other hand you have the GOP whining about transparency..as if they could do anything at all about any given situation. FYI: there are never any leaks where the White House is concerned. There are calculated releases of information meant to keep the general population's curiosity for information satisfied. Anyone thinking otherwise, only listen to the media or Fox News!

When Obama was nominated he was given "security briefings". What he was NOT briefed on was what the George/Dick gang knew about the impending financial crisis! TOP SECRET! Of course high officials in government had some idea that things were going to get very nasty. But don't tell Obama! He just might back out (and he should have, if he had known). If the GOP had won and put McCain and Palin in the White House, can you dare imagine where we would be today? Not just 2 wars, but many more! No. Korea, Iran, troops sent into Libya, and now Syria!! The GOP should be very thankful they lost in 2008! Obama actually "saved" the GOP! Too bad. The rise of the "Tea Party" was supposed to bring back all those GOP conservative ideas. What actually happened is that the GOP used the TP for their own gain, then abandoned them. Do you hear of any TP rallies today? Of course not! These were tax paying, middle class Americans who got used and thrown away. Romney is very good at "using people, then throwing them out"! All that matters is making money for the few!

It's actually ironic. When we first heard about the Tea Party movement-the first thing we said was that this is the thing that will divide the GOP. I cannot believe they did not have the foresight to even think of it themselves. You CANNOT divide the house...that's even scriptual (from the Christian Bible). It pitted the far right conservatives, conservatives and moderates against one another in a public forum. Now it's too late!

June 1, 2012 at 10:45 pm |

StanCalif

Right! The Tea party got screwed! Just think what Romney has planned for the rest of us!!!
Has anyone seen or heard his big "jobs plan"? NO! Just continue to sacrifice working people so that the rich get richer! What a plan!

Of course! War generates big profits for a few. How many private contractors did the past administration employ in these wars? These private companies made huge profits without having to account for anything! So what if our troops were electrocuted while taking a shower in a private contractors construction projects? Who cared? They made money! Now we have an all volunteer military. Employ all these people who can't find a job at home, and laugh all the way to the bank! Now what do we do? Obama is bringing home these citizens who actually believed in the promise. The rich GOP, having enjoyed wonderful tax breaks for years, did nothing to create jobs here at home. These returning "heroes" will face unemployment and homelessness much worse that our returning vets from Vietnam! What does Romney propose? More tax cuts for the wealthy! Everyone else is "on their own"! He has said it, be sure he means it!

Grow up, dude and get over it! There are already tens of thousands of Mormons with security clearances in the military and the government, including your favorite Senate leader, Harry Reid. The sky is not falling! BTW, why don't you pretend for a minute that we have freedom of religion in this country and stop trying to apply a religious test to eliminate anyone who does not think exactly like you do.

You must admit that any religion that will modify their "sacred beliefs" and change them because they have received a new revelation is worth examining. When the Mormon beliefs were that Blacks could not serve as priests because of the color of their skin, and Romney was not on record as trying to change it, there is a problem. So yes, either it's sacred and stay in place or you change because the U.S. finally granted Civil Rights to their people of color. I support Obama- but I must say that Romney would be a more respectable GOP candidate if he would just stop taking orders from Trump, Limbaugh and those other questionable characters who will sink his campaign.

June 1, 2012 at 11:03 pm |

StanCalif

Romney is not much of a "politician" so he will bend to the wind! The major problem is that he has no respect for working people and no compassion for the poor (he has stated this clearly). Romney, and his GOP brothers, don't care about anyone but the wealthy. Romney talks about creating jobs, but has anyone seen or heard his "jobs plan"? It doesn't exist! Just cut taxes for the wealthy and let everyone else fend for themselves (also clearly stated).

June 1, 2012 at 11:14 pm |

Merrill

Demsrule, so I guess Jesus is like that too. Since only those of the line of Levi can be priest and everyone else is not worthy. Why didn't Jesus fight to change that? I guess we should all denoice Jesus because he did not fight all the traditions of his day. Why do some many people believe that they know everything about the Mormon Church?

June 4, 2012 at 1:32 am |

NN

The only briefings Romney will attend will be those given by the big defense contractors. The idea is not to configure national security strategy to counter anticipated threats but to configure things in a way most profitable to industry, and if this means manufacturing threats then so be it. Of course Romney is going to have to be given a BIG cut, this guy doesn't come cheap. How people can't see through this horrendous fraud of a person is beyond me.

Okay, just what exactly does Romney propose to create jobs? Nobody knows! All he and his beloved party care about is taking care of the rich! Cut taxes (on the rich), cut federal programs (for the poor), cut education (too many educators are union members). So far, this is Romney's plan! Sound good?

As I said, you think you know, but you really don't. What facts do you have to back up your wild accusations?

June 2, 2012 at 4:55 am |

Tim in MN

It has to do with trust, and after listening to this individual many people simply do not trust him. It's like he's always trying to sell you something, but rather than expouse the virtue of the product he's selling, he only disses the competition.

June 3, 2012 at 11:24 am |

rep

The funny thing is, having received NO intel briefings (and according to the article, he's not even asked for any) he's been shooting his mouth off about anything and everything as if he had any real insights when he clearly does not. That's not always bad, but in Romney's case his comments on OBL, Russia, and Syria in just to name a few have been positively pathetic. It's as if he hadn't even read the news in the last few years if not more.

What an idiotic statement! He will do no such thing, you're a fool for believing it, and a charlatan for expressing it. Come out of your fairy tale land where your extravagant thoughts come to life before your eyes, and for your eyes only. Seriously, you're delusional.

Odd to hear this as I once understood the Mormon President gets direct revelation from God: so why does our government need to brief Romney? He should be getting his briefing by the Mormnon President .would rather know why he hides money in off shore accounts: might they know in SLC ?

Yep, Im better off. How quickly people forget what Bush got us into... If Romney is elected people will quckly realize what they just got themselves into. If you think for a minute that Mitt Romney will do a better job than Obama you are sadly mistaken. If you think he is going to fix the economy, you are sadly mistaken, if you think the poor and middle class will be better off, you are sadly mistaken. If you think things are bad now, just wait a year under Romney, you'll be wishing Bush was back in office. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR AS IT MAY JUST COME TRUE!

Your last statement is So True. We better be careful. Mitt will say anything and everything to get elected. He will have people that he owe, his rich friends, big corporations and all sorts of donors. Not once have I heard any politican that they want to come up with solutions that support middle America or the average working man/woman, not one of them. Everyone that comments on these sites never once talk about people or politican that wants to work with the other party, because they do not want to solve any problems that we have in this country. It is their way or the highway.

better off? Depends on the number of government handouts your getting.. if you are better off.. I'm guessing that you are receiving every possible one you can get your grubby hands on.. The rest of us are not and we intend to vote that way in nov

I guess that was the only comeback that you had was Gov't Handouts. For one, I have worked for a company over 30 years, served in Military and have never taken a handout. I feel that I am doing just fine. Maybe you are looking for a handout or something or what is your problem.

June 1, 2012 at 5:05 pm |

DCD

Yea, what a comeback! I grew up very poor, put myself through college and have been working as a software engineer for the last 25 years. Believe or not I even got student loans and paid every penny back. You repubs are so predictable with your answers.

June 1, 2012 at 5:21 pm |

Brenda Spears

DCD, you are on the money concerning Romney. I agree 100% and I do not think he has the spine to be President and so who would be making all of the decisions. He cannot make the decision to distance himself of from looney Trump I am not sure if it is the money factor or no backbone. Either way he makes me extremely nervous. I think it would be the worse thing for the middle and lower class if he is elected. You think it's bad now, just wait if he is elected, take my word for it things will get much worse..

I'am sooooo....glad it's Mitt and not John Huntsman, because John could have really done well with Independents, Hispanic's, and Women, the 3 most important voting groups behind seniors.
In fact ALL nonpartisian polling groups keep reporting this, over, and over again, and Mitt has very poor polling with ALL those groups, because if elected, these are the groups that he will have to take from the most.
Will be sad id money really can buy you way into the White House, very, very sad...

You know what really gets me so mad, we all think that one party is better than the other one and no it is not. The majority of politicians for beholding to large donors, corporations and the like. Tell me 1 politican that is really for the people and fighting for the average person and please do not tell me Ron Paul. We should be finding and voting for individuals that will look out for the average person and will work with others in each party.

And you thnk Romney will be so much better. Wow, you must have facts that other do not have. The House and the Senate control so much, why didn't you say that they have failed us. They will not compromise or anything like that, but you say the current President has failed us. I guess you feel that he creates jobs or owns companies that create jobs. If this is your worldly belief, then I truly feel sorry for you.

Hopefully he won't try to use this information to his advantage. Most of our biggest losses in intel have been because some politician opened his big mouth. For some reason, they think the enemy doesn't watch the news.

He has his "experts" to rely on. You know those guys. The ones who got us into Iraq, who couldn't find Bin Laden (not that they were looking for him). Yes those experts. If you are a GI and want to get killed for nothing. Vote Romney. If you want to spend 1 trillion dollars on other nations people, vote Romney. If you think back to the loss of 8 million jobs vote for Mr. R. 'Cuz the guys that orchestrated national security disasters, and economic catastrophes are the ones talking to this guy.

I don't think I've seen this 25 to 1 number (that you just made up) before. The poll that came out earlier this week had it and 58% to 35%. And many of the the 58% are old white guys who typically vote Republican anyway so it really doesn't say much.

This is just plain wrong and a bad thing to allow. Willard, Robin Hood of the Rich, needs to tell America his secrets FIRST before any U.S. Intel seeps into his pitiful brain. He needs to tell us how he was able to procure profits from defunct companies purchased by Bain Capital causing middle-class workers to lose their pensions and then hide millions in over 138 off-shore bank accounts. Think of that America, how many bank accounts do each of you have? One? Two? Three or four? You would think it strange for anyone you know to have more than four or five bank accounts, wouldn't you? Well, think about that for just a moment would you? Willard Romney has 138 bank accounts that we know of! There could be more! Why do middle-class retirees and those nearing retirement want to vote for this man? It makes no sense whatsoever. He wrecked the lives of thousands, maybe millions of people who built up everything they had for retirement and then took their losses and deposted them in 138 banks!!! Why is this so difficult for people to comprehend???!!! It's like Fox Factless Fiction News has slipped LSD into their viewers' water and brainwashed them with lie after lie after lie about Romney.

Shouldn't you be occupying something? Go pray to your god OBAMA and leave the intelligent postings to those of us with IQ's above that of the common garden snail.

June 1, 2012 at 2:32 pm |

Kevin

I see you are spewing what Chris Matthews and Ed Shultz are telling you. Which proves you're incapable of researching things for yourself. First was Romney present with Bain made investments? No. The CEO at the time was one of your fellow Obama worshipers. Bain used its own money for investing. Some worked out some did not due to market conditions. Your savior, Obama wasted over half a billion dollars of our taxpayer money in his Solyndra dealings. Who had another Obama supporter as CEO.

Try research, you pitiful wannabe. You probably never served five minutes in the military and are passing off yourself as a SEAL. Which Obama wanted to not pay a few months ago.

Wow, Kevin, is your IQ above that of a snail ?
Good for you. But not by much, it seems.
With Bain, according to you (and Fox News) it's "investing" and there are winers and losers which is OK, and expected. But with Obama it's "wasting" ? And if there's not a 100% success rate it's some kind of crime ?
So you expect the Government to achieve an impossible success rate but for businesses it's perfectly fine to be wrong more than half the time ?

That's a double standard.
Just what we expect from a righty who clearly belongs to the least informed demographic in the country. (Fox news watchers)
The same group that thinks business is so much more adept at finances, but clearly can't match the same expectation you suddenly hold for government. That's called hypocracy.

With Bain, the "investment" is actually meant to suck money out of the company and it's employees. The idea being to eventually close the company. But not until it's bled dry and the profit it realized for the privileged few who are willing to game the system. That's how it works. Plus the fact that Bain would then borrow on the books of the company and then default on the loan.. costing the rest of us even more money.
It's really a "distribution of wealth"; taking money from the hard working middle class and handing it over, (mostly tax free) to the wealthy few.
That is Romney's experience and legacy. Whether he was there at the time the fruit was picked or not is irrelevant.
With the "investment" the government made in Solyndra, which was actually a loan, the money paid 1100 salaries for a year. The intent was not to close the company, but to fuel a new industry. No-one got rich off of it. But the taxpayer money went back into the community.

So this particular company failed, but that money went to support a lot of people, a lot of businesses. Much to the consternation of righties, there's no profit for Obama, like there was for Romney.

And in the grand scheme of things ... 500 Million ??? seriously.. that's such a petty sum. That's one twentieth of what GWB sent to Iraq in a duffle bag to finance his friends; money that was never accounted for, but came from taxpayers. Romney himself, as an individual is worth more than half that.

June 1, 2012 at 3:33 pm |

40 acres

Well gosh kevin. If Romney wasn't there when Bain made investments (not quite sure where you got that intell) then he should not lie about his "job creating" abilities should he?

June 1, 2012 at 5:05 pm |

b

well, a person would have more than 1 bank account if they had more that $100k. Banks are only insured up to $100k, so like any "smart" person would do, they protect their savings by locating it in as many accounts as they need to cover incase of bankruptcy by the bank. only stupid lazy poor people don't know that. oh and minorities.

Actually non-interest bearing accounts are fully covered regardless of the amount and those that bear interest are insured up to $ 250,000.

June 1, 2012 at 5:10 pm |

Ret USN

Bravo Zulu to you SEAL Team! America better wake the F-up fast, a Mitt Romney Presidency will wreck havoc on this country. This man is a liar and will say anything to get elected, i mean this guy seriously lacks any core princeples or beliefs! People need to seriously start doing their damn research on Mitt Romney, this guy is dangerous. I recommend everybody review that 1994 debate between Mitt Romney and the late Ted Kennedy. When Ted Kennedy stated that he was pro choice and Mitt Romney is "multiple choice" somewhat funny, but that whole debate is very telling about Mitt Romney.

It is important for the possible future president to be given secret info about what is going on. Remember, Obama said the the US would leave Iraq immediately, but then found out that there was more to it than his 'bumper sticker' answer. The troops were in as long as Bush predicted (actually 8 months more).

This is not a big deal. These intelligence briefings are watered down summaries ( and yes I have been there, as a writer and presenter of intelligence summaries, thank you ); they have no real substance and do not reveal any actual assets.

Awesome Answer. You democrats don't realize that Romney actually has a record. good or bad it is still better the barack Obamas record of racking up debt and the US Economy is almost worst off then it was when he was put in.

June 1, 2012 at 2:04 pm |

Trevor

You know, I can't bring myself to respect Harvard. When you're a teenager like me with a poor family, Harvard is out of your reach. The best you can hope for is to be the best at school, get a full ride to less expensive college, and then work the rest of your life to make your own family not as bad off as you were when you were a kid. That's what I'm trying to do. But what makes Harvard better than other schools? NOTHING. It is only for the name that you want to go there. It's education is on par with other colleges, but it is its name that is important to people. You can never get in unless you are rich, in which case you haven't understood the struggles of the lower middle class and poor people.

June 1, 2012 at 2:50 pm |

DCD

Well, evidently you are the clueless clown. Maybe you should do some research before making off the cuff remarks.

If you can't tell Mitt ROB-ME is a moron that puts you in the same boat has him. If you call stealing money from hard working Americans successful then please give us your name and address as we all would like nothing more than to take your hard working money too. By the way you don't have to be smart to go to Yale or Harvard, you only need money!.

June 1, 2012 at 4:11 pm |

Papanez

I'll bet in Mitt's only try at being honest during this election, he'll endorse President Obama for a second term!

Robmey and the Bush goons he hired with all the billions of "PAC" money will try to "Lie and Buy" this election.
Just like poc walker is trying to do in Wisconsin. Dont let the repubs win these elections or America will go back to the
Bush era policies.

I'll tell you what it is, Mary. Having the first African American in the White House has riled up the rabidly racist Jim Crow cretins in this country, like the Baggers (KKK). Since no one in their right mind can vote for the party of anti choice, anti science, anti thought, pro theocracy and plutocracy, homophobia, misogyny, whose mindless followers are 'Koched' up to benefit the 1 percent, unless they are a racist as well! The 2012 elections will measure whether there are more rational people in this country, or feral racists.

Racism? Really? You clowns can keep throw up this racism garbage until you are blue in the face. Truth is that the racism that you so dearly want to be there, isn't. Get it in your thick skull, Obama isn't a good president.

June 1, 2012 at 1:48 pm |

KM

Legitimate criticisms of the current POTUS do not constitute racism. The proper response would be to formulate a reasonable repudiation of said criticisms. Since your response makes no attempt, one can only surmise that this would be your feeble attempt at a rational response. At issue is the welfare of the United States, such small-minded drivel serves no useful purpose, other than to demonstrate a lack of any useful intellect to bring to the table.

June 1, 2012 at 2:02 pm |

bewhiskered

"You clowns can keep throw up this racism garbage until you are blue in the face."

So, tell me. Does the term delusional hold any special significance for you? One thing about racists, including you, is that they're always too cowardly to admit to being racists! Reading your post is like watching a foreign film, wherein the subtitle reads:

"I hate Africans Americans, especially in the White House!"

June 1, 2012 at 2:02 pm |

coloradoDad

Im assuming the jim crowe era caricatures and references of the President, the spitting on and use of the n word toward our black delegates, and language of the ghetto references, and ... aw forget it. You just dont' get it do you?

June 1, 2012 at 2:59 pm |

bewhiskered

Poor GOP, sold out to the fringe
Now, it's freedom, upon which they impinge
No more choice, no more science
No more thought, no noncompliance!
It's enough to make a decent person cringe.

"Legitimate criticisms of the current POTUS do not constitute racism."

While that is true, suggesting that racism has nothing to do with the 2012 election, is racism in and of itself! Where were the Baggers (KKK) when G.W. Bush was President? Of course, he was white- no problem with government spending there!

Democrats have just as much, if not more PAC money in comparison to Republicans. Issues will drive this election, not hyperbole. In the final analysis, all candidates should run on their records. Success breeds success, for that matter so does failure. Americans need only ask themselves if they are any better off now then when Obama was elected.

Yep, Im better off. How quickly people forget what Bush got us into... If ROB-ME is elected people will quckly realize what they just got themselves into. If you think for a minute that Mitt Romney will do a better job than Obama you are sadly mistaken. If you think he is going to fix the economy, you are sadly mistaken, if you think the poor and middle class will be better off, you are sadly mistaken. If you think things are bad now, just wait a year under Romney, you'll be wishing Bush was back in office. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR AS IT MAY JUST COME TRUE!

June 1, 2012 at 4:22 pm |

MaryM

I am Much better off now then when Bush was President. Who wants to go back to the bush era?
If you vote for Romney that is Exactly what will happen. Why do you think Romney Hired the Bush admin people? HUH?

Rob-money could sure use some intelligence. At least enough to counterbalance his massive ego. Enough to give him some insight into the fact that he is way over his head. Enough to embarrass him into doing the right thing, which is dropping out of the race.

"I think it was last weekend I was watching C-SPAN, and I saw Vice President Dick Cheney and he was being asked questions about a whole host of issues - following 9/11, the affairs in various countries in the world. And I listened to him speak and said whether you agree or disagree with him, this a man of wisdom and judgment, and he could have been president of the United States...That's the kind of person I'd like to have - a person of wisdom and judgment."

I have no problem with him "stealing" delegates, particularly those that the GOP establishment took initialy from him. Regardless, is it stealing when he uses the system the GOP put in place? I must admit I am in awe of the establishment: they found someone more polarizing and even worse at public speaking than George W. (BTW, I miss him).

How is it stealing delegates when the conventions are open to all of the nominees?

Whats pathetic is that Romney supporters have to resort to cheating at the conventions by passing out fake Ron Paul slates with their delegates on them to even compete with Paul supporters or as in Nevada creating a "Shadow Party" for the national convention.

If Romney truly has the support why can't people show up and become delegates for him?

This tells us one or more of the following statements are true:

1. Romney didn't actually win the popular vote and there was massive voter fraud.
2. Romney supporters are either too stupid or too lazy to understand the process it takes to win
3. If Romney can't even get organized enough to to win the delegates or votes without cheating he would get crushed by the Obama machine and grassroots.

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.